Ruling is the latest in a string of recent court decisions overturning extreme anti-choice laws across the country

03.14.14 - (PRESS
RELEASE) A federal district judge permanently struck down an Arkansas
law
banning abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy today, saying the extreme
measure would “prevent a woman’s constitutional right to elect to have
an abortion before viability.”

SB
134 would have banned abortion in Arkansas at 12 weeks of pregnancy
with only narrow exceptions
in cases of rape, incest, and medical emergencies. SB 134 was enacted in
March 2013—just two days after Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe vetoed[2]
the measure—when both houses in the state legislature voted
to override[3] his veto.

Said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights:

“Today the court has rightfully reaffirmed what Governor Beebe acknowledged in vetoing this
extreme legislation—that state lawmakers cannot take away rights that the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court have guaranteed.

“We hope today’s decisive ruling will at last put a stop to the efforts of extremist politicians
to roll back Arkansas women’s fundamental rights.”

While
today’s decision blocks the law’s unconstitutional ban on abortion,
U.S. District Judge
Susan Webber Wright’s ruling upheld a provision requiring all women
seeking an abortion to first undergo an abdominal ultrasound and receive
statistical information in writing about carrying pregnancies to term
if a fetal heart tone is detected.

“While
we are pleased that the court ultimately preserved women’s fundamental
right to abortion,
Arkansas women are fully capable of weighing their reproductive choices
carefully and responsibly in consultation with their doctors - without
politicians dictating what medical procedures or information they need,”
added Northup.

The Center and the ACLU filed the lawsuit, Edwards
v. Beck[4],
in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas on
behalf of two physicians who provide abortion services in Little Rock,
arguing that
the Arkansas law violates the U.S. Constitution by banning pre-viability
abortions.
The physicians are represented by Stephanie Toti, senior staff attorney
for the Center for Reproductive Rights, Talcott Camp with the ACLU, and
Bettina Brownstein and Holly Dickson with the ACLU of Arkansas.
The Arkansas law was one of the most extreme in the nation, only surpassed by a currently-enjoined[5]
North Dakota measure banning the procedure as early as six-weeks of
pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant. Earlier this
year, the US Supreme Court refused[6]
to review a decision permanently blocking Arizona’s ban on abortion at
20 weeks of pregnancy, and courts in Idaho and Georgia have also
recently blocked similar pre-viability bans.

Harmful restrictions like these underscore the need for the federal Women’s
Health Protection Act[7], a
Congressional bill designed to end the recent wave of anti-choice
laws preventing women from accessing their constitutional right to an
abortion—ensuring a woman’s constitutional rights do not depend on her
zip code. The Women’s Health Protection Act would ensure abortion care
is not singled out for medically unwarranted
restrictions that ultimately harm women by preventing them from
accessing safe and legal reproductive health services.